Sharing information.

The housing benefit people will not pass on any personal information to the landlord. If the housing benefit is being paid direct to the landlord they will state the date the HB commences and the weekly amount but not how the amount has been calculated.

So if the HB is not paid to the landlord directly but to the person renting, then the landlord need never discover the tenant is claiming HB?

The Housing Benefit office will almost certainly require your landlord or letting agency to sign a form to confirm your tenancy and rent amount.

How will they know the landlord's address?

I'm sure that when I let property I just gave the tenant a contract with the relevant names on. If this is what they then take to the HBO, they could just use a friend's address for the landlord and get them to confirm the tenancy.

(Yes I know that this would be fraud, but I assure you it's not unknown for people on benefits to do this sort of thing)

tim

So the 'friend' then gets a visit from HM tax gatherers asking about undeclared income.

that would require joined-up-government

tim

They ask for the contract which states the name (and address of the landlord), the renters details and the amount paid per month. On the HB form it states they will not contact the landlord unless they are given premission by the renter.

Nope. Just joined up databases. When I was made redundant the DWP still passed all my details on to the local authority even though I owned my own home and was not claiming any LA administered benefit. When I took my complaint to the DPR I got a brush off with the excuse it was done to fight fraud.